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A North Korean firing squad last week executed a former girlfriend of leader Kim Jong Un and 11
other entertainers for allegedly violating laws banning pornography, a South Korean newspaper
reported yesterday.

The report by
Chosun Ilbo, an English-language newspaper of a Seoul media conglomerate, deemed the
reported Aug. 20 executions a death blow to expectations that Kim would oversee a transition of his
isolated and tyrannized people into a more open era.

Among the dozen performers shot to death while their families and former band members were
forced to watch was Hyon Song Wol, a singer Kim reportedly courted a decade ago but was forced to
abandon by his dictatorial father, Kim Jong Il.

Hyon was pictured by North Korean state television performing at a concert Aug. 8 in Pyongyang,
the North Korean capital, less than two weeks before her execution,
Chosun Ilbo reported. It posted a picture of the singer juxtaposed against one of Kim
applauding at the concert.

The 12 members of the Unhasu Orchestra and the Wangjaesan Light Music Band were accused of
violating anti-pornography laws by videotaping themselves having sex and selling copies of the tape
to North Korean fans and in China.

The South Korean newspaper, which attributed reports of the executions to sources in China, said
one report also said that some of those arrested in the Aug. 17 crackdown were found to have Bibles
in their possession. Like most communist countries, North Korea denounces religion as an
undesirable foreign influence.

Hyon married a North Korean military officer after Kim’s father forced the breakup, but
reportedly continued to see the Pyongyang heir apparent even after her marriage,
Chosun Ilbo said.

Kim, 30, is thought to have married Hyon’s fellow band member, Ri Sol Ju, in the last year or
so. Ri began showing up with Kim at cultural events in the capital a little more than a year
ago.